Child of the Áes Dána
by FireAngel312
Summary: When Marcus Bran wakes up unexpectedly in Madison Square Garden, he finds that the only thing he can remember is his name. When a monster attacks, he meets someone by the name of Percy Jackson. For some reason he has this feeling the were meant to meet. Why, though? Who is Marcus Bran and why does he exist? (OC story, plus some in and outs of Percy's POV. Will make better summary)
1. Who Am I?

**Author's Note: Something I've had on my mind for awhile. Usually with chapters I try to be around 5,000 words, but I have to many stories started already so I'll try to stay above 2,500 words. It takes place somewhere within a couple months after Gaea's defeat and since we don't know what's happened yet, i'll use my best assumptions as to what did happen.**

At first he came to realize that he was awake. He had had a dreamless sleep, rather pleasant he had to admit. He was lying on the nice comfortable…grass? His eyes flew open at the realization that he wasn't sleeping in a bed. Instead, he saw that he was lying in the middle of a park in the middle of a city. It was early in the morning; the sun hadn't even risen yet. Cars were passing quickly down the road and a few people were out and about, either making their way home from a late night shift or heading to an early morning job.

He let his mind wander to the last place where he had been before he fell asleep. Then he realized, he couldn't remember a thing. _Who am I? _This was the very first thought to cross his mind. He racked his brain for something, anything that would remind him of who he was. All he could remember was his name, Marcus Bran. A name was a good place to start; he could at least tell people that. However, that did little to tell him who he was. What was his personality? Who were his parents? Where did he live? Did he have any siblings? These were the questions that would help. And though he continuously searched his mind for another clue, he couldn't remember anything else besides his name.

Marcus sat up and looked down at himself. He was wearing regular blue jeans and a black sweatshirt, plus tennis shoes. Despite the sweatshirt, which was at least a size too large for him, he could tell that he was relatively muscular. He reached behind himself and found a backpack, which he had obviously had been using as a pillow. Coming to the realization that there might be something that could tell him more about himself, he opened it up.

The first thing Marcus pulled out was a map. The map was of Manhattan, which was obviously where he was because he recognized the park he was sitting in; Madison Square Park. He looked the map over, but couldn't find markings or anything that might have told him something. He shoved the map back in and pulled out another item. It was a wallet. Marcus quickly ruffled through it for something. He found a couple hundred bucks stashed inside, along with a gym membership (he didn't really see himself going to a regular gym) and also a driver's license.

The picture was of a kid, no more than sixteen, with auburn hair and green eyes. Despite his very light skin completion, he looked gloomy, dark, and devilish. Marcus could only think this to be him because his name was printed on the card. He looked at the date of birth; July , now at least he knew a few things about himself. However, no matter where he looked, he could not find an address or a city name to indicate where he came from.

He put everything back in the wallet and looked through the backpack again. The last things he found were a couple of water bottles and a few wrappers from breakfast bars. He put those back and zipped the backpack up. He slipped it on well he stood up and looked around. The sun had moved little in the time at which he took to ransack the backpack.

From where he stood, Marcus was surrounded by skyscrapers in every direction. He could even see the Empire State Building from where he stood. He felt small compared to the steel giants of Manhattan. Deciding that it would be better to start moving than siting still, Marcus started moving towards the Empire State Building.

As he walked aimlessly through the streets, he came to wonder about something else. What was he doing in Manhattan? It could have been possible that he lived somewhere in the city, and that maybe he had hit his head hard enough to pass out and forget who he was. But he doubted that, most people remember things subconsciously, and he didn't know anything about Manhattan.

As he passed a café window, he caught a glance of his reflection. It looked exactly like the kid on the driver's license. He had auburn hair with green eyes. He looked devilish with his too big sweatshirt, almost like someone you might expect to see sitting in the back of a school classroom, staring aimlessly into space. Marcus found that his looks didn't really describe his personality. Then again, what did he know about himself, he couldn't remember a thing. The only difference that he saw in his reflection that was different from the card was his age. He looked about a year older than the picture on the card's surface.

He subconsciously sighed and continued walking. He looked up at the ever looming Empire State Building. He had told himself that he was heading in this direction because he wasn't exactly sure what to do. However, that was somewhat of a lie. The reason that he was heading towards the building was because he had this feeling about it. He couldn't explain it; it was just that something deep within him that was being drawn to it. He didn't know whether that was a good thing or not, but it was the only thing he had to go by.

He also knew that he wasn't here for some random reason. Maybe he was gaining some of his memory back or something, but he knew he was here for something. What, though? _Another good questions to add to the others, _Marcus thought to himself. Maybe it had to do with the Empire State Building. It was a good thought; he was, after all going right towards it. But neither was it the best conclusion.

If he really needed to do something at that moment, it was to admit that he was lost. Not physically, of course, he had a map if he did become lost, but rather consciously. He had no idea who he was, besides the fact that he was a seventeen year old with a driver's license, and he had no idea why he was here, except for a vague memory of looking for something, but not what the thing was. But whether it was some instinctual stubbornness or hope of being on the right track, he couldn't make himself admit defeat.

Well, he was having these moral thoughts, something else pushed against his consciousness. Another presence. Interesting enough, the presence seemed familiar; or rather he had felt something like it before. This made him anxious. Maybe it was something that would help him remember his past. He changed the direction in which he was walking and started in the one where he felt the presence.

His first clue to turn back was the major amount of honking he could hear. True, in a huge city like Manhattan you would expect this, only this was long and continuous. His second clue was the throng of people heading in the opposite direction, all of which had rather frightened expressions. However, he still did not turn away, in fact if anything, it made him move forward, towards the object of everyone's fear. These struck him as odd, but it had come on instinct, so Marcus decided to follow instinct rather than his head.

As he pushed through a group of people jogging in the opposite direction, Marcus caught a glimpse of what everyone was so frightened about. It really didn't have a shape; it was sort of a big mass of skin. Marcus couldn't tell from the distance from the distance that he was at, but he thought he saw something moving under the skin. But he was guessing that he wasn't seeing the same thing everyone else was seeing, considering the fact that someone ran past him saying something about elephants.

That was when something caught his eye just near the…feet (Marcus couldn't pick out any recognizable features) of the creature. A small white van came to a quick halt; on the side of the van it read _Delphi Strawberry Service. _The doors opened and out jumped five…no, six teenagers. Three of them were all wearing the same orange shirt; well the other three wore clothing of their choosing. Marcus was wondering what the group was doing. Maybe they didn't see it.

Marcus was proven wrong a couple seconds after that thought. A tall guy, maybe his height and about as muscular, with black hair stepped towards the creature and pulled something from his pocket. A few seconds later, a sword magically appeared in his hand. For some odd reason, this didn't faze Marcus; he was beginning to think that he had seen similar things before. The guy said something inaudible to his friends and the group charged the… blob.

As they closed upon the blob, different types of weapons started appearing in the hands of the teenagers. There were one or two swords, a huge battle-axe, spears, and two bows. A girl with black hair carrying a sword and a guy with a spear were the first ones to lay there weapons upon the creature. The thing expelled a loud noise; it was a mix between steel beams rubbing against each other and a walrus. An arm shot out, the first describable feature to appear, and slammed against the ones who sank their weapons into its flesh.

They went flying and landed on a car twenty meters from their original possessions. Marcus flinched when the made impact, the sound of glass shattering discernible even from where he stood. The obvious leader of the group, the guy with the black hair, took his turn at the creature. He stabbed it at the base and ducked as the arm swung at him, then he stabbed the creature again. This only caused it to rumble its strange screech louder.

Then the creature made its first move. Its skin started to move faster, or more precisely, whatever was moving under its skin started moving faster. Loud pops started to admit from it and feet started to become recognizable, then a head appeared. The head looked like a wolf's; a long muzzle with pointy ears and carnivores teeth. Its chest was like regular humans, but its arms looked as if the belonged to a crab. Its legs, which looked like a goats hind quarters, grew shaggy, brown hair. The noise it now made was a mix between a monkey and a coyote.

Whatever the group thought about the creature, was lost between ducking and stabbing. Personally, Marcus wasn't sure what they were trying to accomplish, the only thing they were doing was aggravating it. At this thought, the creature bent down and picked up a car and tossed it at the leader of the group. It was a lucky miss, the car bounced in front of the black haired kid, who ducked just as the car sailed over him. If he had been standing straight up, the car would have taken his head with it.

Something clicked in Marcus's head. He felt this overpowering urge to jump in and help. His head was screaming madness, well is instincts were guiding him forward. He reached into either one of his pockets and pulled out two switch blades. As he pressed the switches, both of the knives swung out and grew. They stopped growing when they reached the same size as he sword that the black haired guy was wielding. His first step was hesitant, but he looked at the big creature once more. Before he knew it he was running across the distance that separated him and the monster.

"What the –"he heard as he ran past two members of the group. He didn't care to look and see who made the exclamation. Using his years of unknown training, he pushed off the ground and jumped about eight feet in the air. He landed on the knee of the creature, which hadn't taken any notice of him. He grasped the creature's hair, which was made difficult by the weapons already occupying his hands, and crawled up to its shoulder.

The monster bellowed and tried to swipe at him, but was unsuccessful. Marcus clambered onto its shoulder. He looked down for a second or so, the ground was nearly thirty feet below. He cringed, he never liked heights. Putting his fear aside, Marcus stood up and plunged one of his swords into the thing's shoulder. Marcus had been half expecting it to have little effect like the other guy's sword, but his sword sank deep and mist rose from the wound.

In anger, the creature swung its arm at him again, this time the crab claw grazed his shoulder. It stung quite a bit, but Marcus pushed the thought out of his mind as he drew the sword out and stabbed the other into the base of the creature's neck. The creature bellowed again and shook itself ferociously. Marcus barely hung onto his sword, which was the only thing that was keeping him be flung onto the ground from thirty feet up. He stabbed the other sword right next to the other and leaned on it. The swords sank deep into the creature's neck.

With another screech, the surface of the monster became soft. Marcus had this bad feeling that if he didn't finish it off in the next thirty seconds or so, he would have a lot harder time to kill this thing. Unsheathing his swords from the things disappearing neck, he quickly ran to the spot right above where the heart should be located. Talking a deep breath, he plunged both swords into the creature's flabby chest.

The screech that emitted from it this time was long and painful. Its skin stopped moving and it just sat there for a second without making another sound. Then it started to lean forward. Marcus, seeing what was going to happen, ran back to where the shoulders had been and stabbed his swords back into the flesh, bracing himself for the impact.

It crashed loudly to the ground, jarring Marcus to the bones. He relaxed after a moment and sighed. He felt himself drop and inch or so and looked down, the body of the creature was slowly transforming into mist. Quickly pulling his blades out of the flabby flesh, he jumped down, which was ten feet from the ground. He landed lightly on his feet. He stood up and lightly brushed himself off.

"What, in the name of Hades, was that?" a voice blurted out. Marcus turned around and found himself staring at the group of teenagers that had attempted to take on the best. The one who had spoken was a large fellow with a bald head and brown eyes. Marcus guessed that he spent a lot of time working out.

Though, they were probably not expecting an answer from him, heck, he wasn't expecting himself to know the answer; Marcus said:

"It's called a Revolving Beast." No one said anything right away. To be honest, Marcus felt nervous now that he wasn't fighting. Before he didn't care what the group had thought, but now they were all staring at him as if he had just dropped from the sky.

"And what the heck is that?" the same kid asked. Marcus opened his mouth to answer, but found that he really had no clue. He found it funny that he knew what it was called, but hadn't a clue as to what it exactly did, or why he knew it.

"I don't know," he finally made himself say. Feeling like he should say more, he mustered up a grin that he hoped matched his appearance and said: "My names Marcus Bran."

The kid that was the leader, the one with the black hair stepped forward, "My names Percy Jackson."

It was in that moment that Marcus felt like he had found what he had been searching for. He didn't know this character, but he somehow felt that he was linked to the reason as to why he was here, in Manhattan. Marcus looked over Percy Jackson. They were the same height and were also built very similar. Even their eyes were similar color; though, Percy Jackson's eyes were a sea green rather than Marcus's emerald colored eyes. Even their swords were different. Well, Marcus's were made of iron, Percy's were bronze colored. They both were missing the cross guard, but Marcus's was evidently of a different make than Percy's

"Percy, he doesn't seem like a normal mortal," it was the girl that had the opportunity to try out flying. She didn't seem to be injured from her flight.

"I can see that," Percy said looking over at Marcus. He had a distinct feeling that he was being sized up. Percy asked him: "Who is your parent?"

"Uh, funny you should ask that. I woke up this morning, over in Madison Square Park, with no memory of who I am. The only thing I know is my name and age," Marcus explained sheepishly, scratching the back of his head. Percy frowned.

"So how did know what that thing was?" he asked Marcus, who only shrugged in response. Percy turned away and motioned for his group to come closer. They started speaking in hushed tones. Marcus had a feeling that they weren't discussing whether or not to invite him for tea. He cleared his throat and the group looked at him.

"Ah, I don't really know why, but I have this feeling that we were meant to meet," Marcus said. It was a long shot, but he definitely felt like he was meant to meet this Percy Jackson. Why, though, he wasn't sure, but maybe he would learn why if he talked with him. Percy stared at him for a moment.

"So do I," Percy said. Marcus saw a few of Percy's team mates look at him curiously, but they didn't question him.

Marcus sighed mentally and then asked, "So, uh, who are you people?"

**Author's Note: That's the first chapter and I plan for more. How much more, i really have no clue. So rate and comment as you please.**


	2. Divine Iron

**Author's Note: So second chapter. As it isn't that far into the story I guess there really isn't that much to explain.**

Percy wasn't exactly sure about this Marcus character. He could truly tell that he had no clue as to who he was because he had gone through the same predicament not that long ago. However, something was off about him and Percy couldn't place it. Perhaps it was his dark and devilish outlook, Percy was expecting him to act something like Leo Valdez, the fire wielding son of Hephaestus. Though, he wasn't going to judge the kid quite yet.

"So, uh, who are you people?" Marcus asked casually. He acted as if the whole scene with the…well, whatever that thing was hadn't even happened. Percy wasn't exactly sure how to tell him that they were children of Greek gods, after all, to any mortal that would seem insane. But Marcus had just proved that he wasn't any normal mortal. In fact, Percy wanted to bet he was a demigod as well; though, whether he was Greek or Roman wasn't exactly discernible.

"Come on, well talk on the way there," Percy said gesturing for Marcus to follow. He hesitated for a second.

"Where are we going?" he asked.

"To camp," Percy said. Marcus looked as if he wanted to ask what camp was, but must have decided against it because he started walking forward. The swords that he held shrunk and became switch blades, which he stored in either one of his jean pockets. Percy couldn't help notice that the blades were not made of Celestial Bronze, but rather they were entirely made out of what looked like iron.

Percy headed to the van which they took to get here. They had received a warning by Iris Message from Iris, ironic isn't it, about some unknown creature trampling down Manhattan. When they had asked for an explanation of what it looked like, all they got was a grumble about a "fleshy blob." As you can imagine, it wasn't much help, so they had to come down here and see the creature for itself.

When they did, they got exactly as what was described to them. A big fleshy blob, which was currently fading away as mist (that was something he had never seen, usually monsters turned into gold dust). Percy had never seen the likes of it in any of his years as a demigod. Not to mention, his sword had done little damage to the creature. Then, out of the blue, comes this kid, who duel wields swords, and takes the thing out all on his own. The first real mystery Percy had the joy to receive in some time.

Percy motioned for him to climb in, which he did; though, he looked behind himself nervously before doing so. As the rest of the demigods filed in, one approached Percy.

Her name was Charity Vinson, funny name for a child of Nike, not to mention it didn't really fit her personality. She had long, black hair that was normally up in a ponytail, she must have lost the hairband after she got flung aside by the creature. She wore jeans and one of the orange camp shirts; though, Percy had seen here wear a tan, leather jacket before.

"What is it Char?" Percy asked. Everyone used her pet name, she didn't like it when the used her full one. It was one of the first things she had made clear when she had arrived at camp nearly three months before hand.

In an undertone, she quickly said: "Do you think we should be so trusting of him?"

Percy quickly glanced at Marcus. What did trust have to do with it? Nothing really, Char was just very suspicious of everyone. She was always looking for possible enemies and outcomes; she was, after all, a child of Nike and out for victory. That was why she and Annabeth got along so well and why she had come along on this little escapade. Why did Percy ask him to come along? He hadn't been lying when he thought they were meant to meet.

When he had woken up that morning he had the strangest feeling that he was supposed to see someone. Well, thinking that maybe he had a special day planned with Annabeth, Percy left his cabin and quickly found her. Upon asking if they had been planning to do anything for the day, Annabeth said "nothing in particular." After explaining the feeling that he had to his girlfriend, Annabeth…well, actually she didn't help too much. She just kissed his cheek and left him to ponder. Then the IM message came and here he was looking at a kid who defeated a monster he couldn't even wound.

"I think we can trust him," Percy said and hopped into the van, not waiting to hear Char's next words. She followed closely and shut the door. "Hey, Argus, we can go." Argus gave him a thumb up, which showed several eyes staring back, and ignited the engine. Soon they were going down a road at an easy forty miles an hour.

"So…" Marcus said, breaking the uneasy tension that had fallen over the group. Percy decided the best would be to explain a little.

"Well, as you may have noticed, were not exactly…normal I guess would be a good word," Percy started, but as he searched for words to bring it down easy, he was lost. So he kind of just spit out: "Look, all of us are children of Greek gods. And there are Roman gods too, only their more of a second personality to the Greek ones. So, with us being children of gods, we're called demigods." It was all said fairly quickly, so Percy wasn't quite sure if Marcus had caught it.

Marcus just sat there a few seconds looking indifferent, even his eyes released nothing of his inner thoughts. Finally:

"Okay," he said. It wasn't mocking, it wasn't sarcastic. He literally sounded as if he believed them.

"No questions?" Percy asked.

"Look, I woke up and found out I can't remember anything until up to the point of waking up. Not to mention, I just took on a thirty foot tall creature that I know the name of, but not why, with two switch blades that turn into swords," he said leaning forward and looked Percy in the eye. "Well, I have your name Percy, who are the rest of you."

Percy jumped on the moment of introduction.

"This here is Peter Campbell, he's a child of Apollo," Percy pointed to a kid sitting right next to him. He looked amazingly like his father.

"Here is his half-sister Myla Brenton, child of Apollo," Percy gestured to a girl on his right.

"That's Reed Gideon, he's Ares kid," a brown haired kid, who was holding on to his spear rather tightly.

"And that one on your right is Charity Vinson, child of Nike; though if I were you, call her Char," Percy said with a grin. Then, he pointed to the large, bald guy sitting next to him, "And that's Butch, child of Iris." Marcus looked at him as though he was far more interesting than the rest, which was evident why after a few seconds.

"Nice tattoo," he said, making reference to the rainbow inked on his arm. Butch looked down at him with a glare that would have frightened most any man. Marcus looked sheepishly at Percy. "What did I say?"

"Butch always takes a compliment like that as a tease; he is after all a kid of Iris, not to mention he's an expert horse rider," Percy explained. Marcus turned back to the big guy.

"No, seriously, I like it," he said. "Kind of like a family sign, thing. Right?" Butch only shrugged off the question and Marcus turned back to Percy. He didn't say anything; Percy could tell he was being sized up. Normally he would take that as an insult, but after what he had seen today he was starting to question his own abilities.

"You wouldn't by chance be a Roman demigod would you?" Percy asked. It was merely out of curiosity, plus key words could possible bring Marcus's memories 's face adopted a thoughtful look to it as he thought, but then he shook his head.

"Nope, don't think I am. I might have already gained back memories by just meeting you guys," he replied shortly.

"Hm, you said you felt like we were meant to meet. What did you mean by that?" Percy asked curiously. He, after all, had had the same feeling. Marcus grinned sheepishly, which only enhanced his devilish looks.

"I don't know how to explain. When I woke up this morning, after getting over the shock of not remembering my past, I felt as if I were here to find something, and when I met you I felt like I found what I was looking for," Marcus explained as he threw a glance around the van. "But maybe you don't know what that feels like, do you?"

"Actually, I do," Percy told him. Marcus raised an eyebrow in confusion. "I woke up with a similar feeling, upon seeing you I felt like I had accomplished something."

It fell silent; the only sound was the wind rushing past the metal vessel that they were riding in and the occasional jump from a bump on the road. Both Marcus and Percy had their eyes locked on each other. It was funny, Percy thought he was so much like a regular demigod, yet, he had different aura around him than either Greek or Roman. And that was the how the rest of the journey to Camp Half-Blood was spent, sitting quietly.

Argus pulled the van to a stop in its normal parking space just outside the camp boundaries. Percy jumped at first and the rest followed, Marcus being the last. He looked around as if he was expecting to see the camp right away. He looked at Percy skeptically; Percy just gestured for him to follow and started up the hill right in front of them. When they reached the top, Marcus froze on seeing what lay before him.

The first thing that became evident was the dragon guarding a pine tree; it didn't pay them much mind as they walked past it. Next was the strawberry field that lay before them, which was accompanied by a large cabin. Past that the climbing wall could be seen, as well as the amphitheater, the cabins, and the dining pavilion. Percy could tell that Marcus hadn't been expecting anything like it.

"A little more than you had been expecting?" Percy asked with a smirk.

"Just different than to what I'm used to…," Marcus murmured. Percy wondered if Marcus had remembered something, or if it was just something he knew subconsciously.

"Well, come on, I want you to meet someone. He might be able to help you with your problem," Percy said as he started down the hill. Marcus didn't move right away, but soon he jogged to catch up with the party.

As they walked through the camp, several people called out Percy's name cheerfully. He just waved to them and kept moving. The group was also getting some funny stares; or rather, Marcus was getting some funny stares. It wasn't often that someone new was as old as seventeen. Percy glanced over at Marcus and saw the cut had received well fighting the strange creature.

"I totally forgot, you got injured didn't you," Percy said to Marcus, who only shrugged.

"It doesn't matter, it doesn't hurt." Percy motioned to a kid and muttered something to him; he ran off and came back within thirty seconds.

"Here, eat this," Percy said as he held out a bit ambrosia. Marcus stepped away from his hand and looked at the ambrosia as if it was a weapon.

"No," Marcus said flatly.

"Why, it will heal you," Percy said with confusion. Marcus shook his head.

"You maybe, but not me." He gave no more explanation, so Percy sent the ambrosia away and started walking again, but not before he gave Marcus a strange look.

By this point Percy was not sure what to believe about this kid. He could fight really well, probably better than him. Yet, he refused ambrosia, something a demigod wouldn't turn down when they were hurt. He had looked at it as if it was the bane of him. Percy found that it was like an interesting puzzle, you could look over it all you like, but the only way to get the full picture was to get all the pieces.

Well Percy thought, they passed through the camp and came to the Big House. Several kids were hanging around it, a few sitting on the steps; well others sat on the railings. Percy just walked past them and entered the Big House. The others who had accompanied Percy into Manhattan had gradually disappeared through their journey here, the only people left were Marcus and Char, and Percy had this feeling that Char was watching and waiting for Marcus to do something stupid. He passed through the hallway and entered the living room, Marcus and Char were following close behind.

Chiron, wearing his fake wheelchair, was sitting in the corner of the room reading a book and listening to Dean Martin on his record player. Percy smiled at the site of the familiar form of Mr. Brunner, the form Chiron had taken while he had watched over him before Percy had discovered who he truly was. Percy's footsteps echoed through the room and Chiron looked up to see the trio.

"Ah, Percy, what was it that was terrorizing Manhattan?" Chiron asked with a small smile as he set down his book.

"Uh, it was a…," Percy wasn't exactly sure how to answer. Though, he didn't have to because Marcus spoke up.

"It was called a Revolving Beast." Chiron looked at Marcus, realizing for the first time that he wasn't a normal camper.

"Who is this Percy?" Chiron asked.

"Chiron this is Marcus Bran," Percy gestured to the kid with auburn hair and emerald green eyes. "Marcus, this is Chiron, activity director of Camp-Half Blood."

"Hi," Marcus said awkwardly as he stared at Chiron.

"Hello," Chiron said with a smile. Chiron pulled his lower half out of the fake wheelchair, exposing his white stallion body. "What is it boy, what's wrong?"

At first Percy didn't understand what Chiron was talking about, but as he turned to look at Marcus he understood why. Marcus wore an expression of pure horror. Realizing that he was being rude, Marcus dropped his expression and shrugged off their stares.

"It's nothing," he said as he walked over to look at the masks hanging off the wall. Percy knew something was still bothering him because he kept glancing at Chiron with a look of anxiety. Chiron either wasn't paying attention or he chose to ignore it, he turned back to Percy with a questioning stare.

"He sort of saved us. When I stabbed the…" Percy looked at Marcus.

"Revolving Beast."

"Right," Percy said. "Anyway, when I stabbed it, it didn't take any damage at all. It just sort of shrugged it off. Then Marcus came running past and took it down with his swords as easy as cutting butter."

"Swords?" Chiron implored. Marcus stepped forward and pulled out his switch blades. When he pressed the switch, the knives elongated and became swords completely made out of what looked like iron. Marcus handed the swords over, being very carefully to leave a yard between himself and the centaur. Chiron took them and looked over them with an expression of interest. "Interesting, I've never seen a sword that could take down a monster that wasn't made from either Celestial Bronze or Imperial Gold. What are these made out of?"

Percy was about to say that Marcus couldn't remember anything other than when he woke up in the morning, but Marcus answered without blinking an eye.

"Divine Iron." Chiron frowned, which Percy took as Chiron had never heard of it before. But instead of commenting further he just handed the twin blades back to their owner.

"Well, it's lucky you were around to help. To be honest, I find it quite amusing that Percy needed help. Of late, he doesn't seem to worry about himself as much as he should. An event like this should put his mind straight," Chiron said throwing Percy a smile. Percy was flabbergasted to hear that Chiron thought him big headed.

"Yeah, whatever," Percy said in response, which only made Chiron chuckle.

"Anyway," Chiron said, looking back down on Marcus. "If you should need a place to stay, you're welcomed here."

"Thanks," Marcus murmured.

"Charity, please take Marcus to the Hermes cabin, he can stay there for now. I need to speak with Percy," Chiron said. Char looked scandalized that Chiron used her full name and that she had to escort a new comer. But she went without another word, Marcus following close behind. Percy turned back to look at Chiron. The centaurs face was totally different from before. He looked worried and confused at the same time.

"What do you know about him?" Chiron finally asked.

"His name, his age, and he fact that he can't remember anything past this morning," Percy explained. Chiron frowned. "Whether he is telling the truth or not is another matter; though, since he saved my life, I trust him. What can you sense about him?"

Chiron's frowned deepened, "Nothing, he doesn't even appear to be a Greek demigod, or a Roman one for that matter."

"I sensed the same thing," Percy said shaking his head. "What do you want me to do?"

"Keep a close eye on him."

**Author's Note: Well, that's the end of the chapter as you can tell. The reason Marcus is scared of Chiron will be parshly brought up in the next chapter, but not fully explained. That's pretty much all I have to say.**


	3. Camp

**Author's Note: Just going nice and easy with these first few chapters.**

Okay, Marcus had to admit, he had not seen this coming. When Percy had said camp, Marcus had thought they were a small group of people on their own, living in a forest somewhere near the city. He hadn't been expecting a full blown training camp for the children of gods and goddess. He had truly believed Percy when he had said the where children of divine beings because it seemed to make sense. Why? He had no clue, he just did.

Then there was the ambrosia, if he recalled correctly. When Percy had tried handing it to Marcus, he had gotten a big whiff of it, it smelt like poison. Now, he didn't think they were trying to deliberately kill him off; it was just something they didn't know. For that matter, he didn't know. What he did know was that if he had eaten that stuff, he wouldn't be in the greatest health right now.

Shaking himself out of his thoughts, he jogged to catch up with the girl who was escorting him to a cabin or something like that. She hadn't spoken a word to him since they had started out, mostly because Marcus had a feeling she didn't trust people very easily. He was going to attempt to break the tension.

"Hey, Charity, -"

"The names Char, I don't like my full name," she said without looking back. Marcus caught a hint of ice in her tone.

"Yeah, well I just thought that would be kind of informal for having just met. Anyway, aren't you scared of that guy?" Marcus asked as he watched a few people carrying weapons pass by.

"Who, Percy?" she asked, actually sounding slightly confused.

"No, Chiron," Marcus clarified.

"No. Chiron's our trainer and he's really nice. Heck, on occasion, which is very little, he lets us ride on his back," she said. This time her tone was indifferent.

"What?" Marcus exclaimed in horror. "You mean you aren't afraid of getting on his back and him running into the water where he could devour your internal organs?" Char looked back at him with a confused expression. But she didn't answer; instead she turned away and continued to walk.

The reason for the gruesome question was because, well, actually he had no idea. Marcus just had this bad feeling around horses, he liked to walk rather than ride a horse. Though, when had he ever been around a horse, Marcus couldn't say because he couldn't remember. And even though Chiron wasn't technically a horse, he still gave him the same feeling.

WHAM

Marcus hit the ground hard after something rammed into him.

"Grover!" Marcus heard Char's voice.

"Sorry, I just was looking for Percy," a new voice said. Then Marcus felt himself being pulled to his feet. The first thing he saw was a guy with brown hair and brown eyes. Then he looked down and was surprised to see a pair of goat legs.

"An urisk," Marcus breathed.

"Uh, gesundheit ," the creature said awkwardly.

"No," Marcus said shaking his head. "That's what you are."

The urisk, Grover, looked even more confused, "No, I'm a satyr."

Marcus opened his mouth again, but decided not to answer the way he was going to. He had no clue who he was, much less why he knew so many things that he couldn't explain. It wasn't his job to tell someone what they are and what they aren't if they already know.

"Yeah, sorry, must have been thinking of something else," Marcus said instead.

"That's cool man."

"Percy's talking with Chiron, Grover," Char said to the satyr.

"Thanks," Grover said to her, then turned and started to jog off with a wave backwards. "See you again sometime."

Marcus watched Grover disappear. Then he turned around to find that Char had already started walking off on him again, he moved to catch up. As he approached he could hear her grumbling, but not what she was grumbling about. Marcus was pretty sure she wouldn't like him asking so he remained silent.

They came upon a large cluster of cabins that Marcus thought were the strangest things he'd ever seen. Evidently, they were supposed to match the gods and goddesses attributes. There was a large steam-punk looking one, one that looked as if a whole bunch of girly-girls had taken their time with it, one that had plants growing over it, a silver one, etc.

The one they stopped in front of looked like it had seen better days. Peeling paint, smashed window panes, and other various damages could be seen on the exterior of the cabin. This made Marcus worry about the inside of cabin. He glanced at Char, who just gave him a smirk, not a very pleasant one at that, and said: "Here we are, this is Hermes' cabin, you'll be staying here for the rest of your visit." Then she left him standing there.

_Great_, Marcus thought sarcastically. He walked up to the cabin and stood before the door. He was rather reluctant to go in. Then he mentally slapped himself, reminding himself that he had just faced down a thirty foot creature. Slowly he inched his hand towards the doorknob, he grasped it and turned.

"Hello, anybo—"

SPLASH

He was instantly drenched in water. As he blinked the water out of his eyes, he looked up to see a contraption which happened to be connected to the door so when it was opened a bucket full of water, well, Marcus didn't need to think the rest, he had experienced it. That was when laughter filled the room.

Several kids sprang out of places Marcus would never have thought of hiding. All of them were laughing as if his predicament was the most joyous thing in the world. But none laughed louder than two guys, twins to be more precise, who pulled themselves out from under two bunk beds. They sprang up both wearing identical grins; they also had identical blue eyes and brown hair.

"Works every time," one of them said with glee.

"And it's one of the older tricks in the books," the other responded. Marcus pressed down his hair, trying to get rid of the water that had soaked in.

"I'm glad you find it so amusing," Marcus said sarcastically as he shook his hand, sending water droplets flying.

"No pressure man, we heard some new kid was here and wanted to welcome you properly," the one that had spoken first before said. "My name's Connor Stoll and that's my brother Travis."

"Pleasure," Marcus said, also sarcastically. "Marcus, Marcus Bran."

"So, waiting to be claimed? Because no offense, but you look a little old for not having been claimed yet," the one named Travis said.

"Actually, I have no idea what is happening. I woke up this morning without a memory in my noggin. I came across Percy when I took down a thirty foot creature and so here I am," Marcus explained. Everyone, Marcus took note that they all had similar features, was staring at him as though he was an alien.

"Okay," Connor said, dragging the word out unnecessarily. Then he and his brother introduced Marcus to the twenty some occupants of the cabin.

Marcus learned quickly to watch where he stepped, what he touched, and most importantly, the children of Hermes. Several times through his tour of the cabin he nearly got impaled by a spear, feet glued to the floor, and some type of object falling on his head. The worst part was that the tour only took five minutes.

He had also the misfortune of learning the abilities the children of Hermes had. His wallet had been stolen within five seconds of the beginning of the tour, though, he didn't care much, but he did manage to get it back. The worst part was when he was swiped of his switch blades. This nearly led to the impalement of a girl who had taken one and the other was tossed between several of the Hermes children, including the Stolls, until Marcus managed to swipe it in mid-air.

Eventually, it was nearly sun-down, Percy came looking for him. Marcus jumped on the chance to leave the house of pranksters. It wasn't as though Marcus hated them, he knew it was in their nature, but that didn't make him any less unrelieved to escape.

"So how's it been since I left you in the care of other demigods?" Percy asked with a slight smirk as they walked down to a beach just off the side of the camp.

"Well, I got run over by a uris…I mean satyr, then I got drenched in water, and introduced to a cabin full of kids who makes you think twice before sitting down," Marcus muttered as he picked up a stone and tossed it at the water.

"Yeah, well, there good kids. And it took a while for them to get back to be like that again," Percy said staring at the rippling water. Marcus looked at Percy. His face wore emotionless expression, but Marcus could see something in his eyes. Something had happened and he hadn't yet gotten over it.

"What do you mean?" Marcus asked casually, also staring out over the open water.

"You ever hear of the Titans in Greek mythology?" Percy asked him.

"Yeah," Marcus told him. Everyone knew a little bit about Greek mythology, even if it was just a little.

"Well, they tried to make a comeback a few years back. It was horrible, quite a few demigods were killed, I was nearly one of them," Percy explained solemnly. "And that isn't even the worst of it. Less than a year ago the giants tried to destroy the gods. It was okay in the beginning, we ran into a little trouble with the Romans and stuff, but that wasn't all the difficult to deal with. However…" Percy trailed off.

Marcus knew he should have just let it slide, he could tell it wasn't a topic often breeched. But curiosity was just too much for him, "What?"

"It probably won't mean much to you because you don't know anything about it, but my girlfriend and I fell into Tartarus." Percy was right, it didn't really mean anything to him, but just by looking at is eyes, Marcus could see the terror Percy had for that place.

"What was it like?" Marcus asked, again, against his own judgment.

"It was like a large cavern and it extended so high, you couldn't see the ceiling. Heck, I'm not even sure it had a ceiling. There was the occasional cavern that was room size, but they had remnants from the past." Marcus didn't need Percy to tell him what that meant. "It was extremely dark, could hardly see ten meters in front of ourselves… The worst part was the monsters."

"Why?"

"No matter how many times we killed them, they just came back. See, Tartarus is their domain, they can't die there because that's where they go after we kill them topside." Marcus watched as something past behind Percy's eyes, he couldn't tell what it exactly was, but it was dark.

"Hey, I never learned who your godly parent is," Marcus said walking right in front of Percy to change the topic. Percy seemed to refocus and followed him.

"My dad's Poseidon," Percy said, a grin spreading across his face. Before Marcus could fully comprehend the meaning of it, he was drenched for a second time in that day.

"I really am starting to get annoyed," Marcus muttered as he wiped away the loose water droplets. Percy was laughing lightly. "So, you can control water?"

"Yeah, it's pretty helpful sometimes. I can also use water to heal wounds. Though, I can't heal severe wounds, only minor cuts and bruises," Percy explained still wearing his grin. Suddenly, his grin turned into a wide smile, he seemed to have seen something.

"Nico!" he yelled and Marcus turned around to see who he was talking to.

The person was dressed totally in black, from his head to his feet. His skin was pale, as if he never went out and his eyes were brown, though, his eyes gave off an expression of a madman. At his waist hung a chain belt and sheathed sword. Upon hearing Percy, he turned his head in their direction and gave a sad looking smile as he walked towards them.

"Hello Percy," the young man, Nico, said. His tone matched his smile, and then he looked at Marcus. "Who is this?"

"Oh, this is Marcus Bran," Percy said. "Marcus, this is Nico di Angelo, son of Hades." Marcus shook Nico's hand.

"So you're the one everyone's talking about," Nico said, causing Marcus to raise an eyebrow. Seeing this, Nico added: "They mentioned that someone new was in camp. Many of them were surprised to see someone so old; usually demigods are recognized before their as old as you."

"Well, with all that's happened so far, I'm not so sure I'm exactly like you," Marcus said. Now it was Nico's turn to raise an eyebrow. Marcus shook his head. "I mean I'm not Greek or Roman. I probably have different ties to the gods."

"Perhaps when you memories return," Nico said.

"Hey, how did you know I lost my memory?"

"You have the same look as Percy did when Hera, or rather Juno I guess, took his," Nico explained.

"Nico; how's Hazel?" Percy asked suddenly, he looked concerned. Nico's small smile disappeared.

"She's still rather detracted; I think it happened too quickly for her," Nico gloomily said.

"Has Leo had any effect on her? He left the other day to go see her…" Percy said. Nico just shook his head.

Marcus looked between them; he had no clue as to what was happening. It was evident that they were talking about someone who was in distress, but it must have been long before his arrival.

"If I may be so bold to ask what you two are talking about?" Marcus asked cautiously. Percy and Nico both threw glances at him.

"Back in the war against the Giants, we lost someone real close to us," Percy explained. "His name was Frank Zhang. He was distantly related to me, like, really distantly related. Hazel, Nico's sister, was dating him, so she took it really hard. She sort of blame's herself."

"No offense, but your lives are the real drama channel, aren't they?" Marcus bluntly said.

"You don't know the half of it," Percy said with a half-smile. Nico also managed a smile, somewhat like the one that had previously adorned his face. Percy turned his attention back to Nico. "Well, say "hi" to her for me the next time you see her."

"Yeah, okay Perce," Nico told him "Well; I guess I'll be seeing you around, sometime or another." Nico left them standing in the sand.

"I feel like a total stranger," Marcus said as he watched the figure of Nico get distantly farther away.

"You sort of are, Marcus," Percy said, also watching Nico.

"Yeah, I know, but somehow I feel like I've experienced something like this before. I guess seeing it just makes me wonder what my life was like before this and what I've gone through to be in this state," Marcus said quietly. Percy looked at him thoughtfully.

"Like Nico said, when your memories return."

"If they return," Marcus said with bitterness. He couldn't honestly say that he was feeling real grateful towards the one who took his memories.

"They will, especially if you were meant to do something," Percy told him as he patted his shoulder. A horn sounded in the distance. "Come on, it's time for dinner."

"Great, time to meet the whole family," Marcus said with bitter sarcasm as he followed Percy in the direction of a large pavilion.

**Author's Note: And the end of the third chapter. Rate and comment if you want, i don't really care, I'm using this story as a way of giving me time to think on my other ones**.


	4. Crows

**Author's Note: Back with more...**

Marcus felt the eyes. He thought that a new demigod was a common occurrence, apparently not. Of course, the interest, as he had heard people mention before, was not because he was new, but because of his age. What that had to do with it he was not sure, but he assumed it would all be explained in a matter of time.

Currently, he was having the most enjoyable time with the Hermes' gang. He had to admit, when they weren't pranking you, they were awesome. He was getting a total run-down, blow by blow, whatever you wanted to call it, on the wars that the demigods had faced in the passing years. The whole bit with Percy being the kid of the first great prophecy and the titan Kronos, then the fiasco with the giants and Gaea. Marcus had to admit that he was relieved he hadn't been in anything of the sort…or had he? He let his own question slip back into his mind; there was no need to worry about it.

What he did have to worry about was the guy, who the Hermes children called Mr. D (though he had a feeling that was a code name), had been staring at him non-stop since dinner had started. It was starting to unnerve him just a tad. And no matter how hard he tried to ignore it, he still felt the guy's eyes on him.

"Want to tell me why Mr. D is staring at me like I'm an animal on the other side of a glass wall?" Marcus asked as he leaned over to speak with Travis Stoll. Or was it Connor? It was really hard to tell which was which.

"No idea, maybe he's wondering whether or not you'd look nice hanging from a grape vine," Stoll, whichever one it was, told him with a smirk. Marcus questioned him with a glance. "Mr. D is just what we call him; he's actually Dionysus, god of wine." Marcus only nodded his head. He knew the name, but not much else. As a kid he was far more interested in learning about the heroes of Greek mythology rather than the gods. That was until…until something he couldn't remember happened.

He turned back to his food which he was finding quiet pleasant. He ate all that they had to offer; BBQ, grapes, apples, strawberries, cheese, and fresh bread, there was more than that, but that is what he first managed to grab. The goblets they drank from he thought were the most marvelous thing he had ever seen, or that he could remember, as the filled up on their own. He didn't stop twice as he took a long draught from the Pepsi in his goblet.

It felt good to be at least allowed to be around other people; Marcus had this funny feeling that Chiron was wary of him. It was the way the centaur was throwing glances at him; small, half second looks. How did he know Chiron was doing this? Because he was still feeling uneasy about the half-man, half-horse guy and was throwing his own glances at him every once and awhile. Though, he wasn't as scared as the first time he had seen him.

And now one of the Stolls was talking to him again.

"So, you can't remember a thing?" This had been the tenth time they had asked the same question, but Marcus, being as patient as he could, answered it again.

"No, I can't," Marcus said politely. He figured the Stoll (he really needed to find a way to tell the difference, maybe he'd have Percy help him), would ask another question. Fortunately, neither one did, and he was left to think about his existence in the world until the end of dinner. At which point, he suddenly felt nervous. Did everyone seem to be excited about something, or was it just him?

After the plates were cleared from the table, a conch horn blew and campers started to stand. Slightly confused, Marcus stood up, looking around to see if he could figure out what was happening. Everyone started to cheer as Annabeth Chase, Percy had introduced her as his girlfriend before they had entered the pavilion, and two other campers, her siblings, had entered with a ten foot banner that was grey and had a large owl painted on the front. Athena. Next came in a three kids with matching blonde hair and blue eyes carrying a large, bright yellow banner, which had an image of a sun and a bow painted on it. Apollo.

"What's happening?" Marcus called to the Stoll that was standing next to him over the overwhelming cheers of the campers.

"It's time for capture the flag," he said without glancing at him. Marcus was not exactly sure how he felt about this. He couldn't remember ever playing such a game like this before, or at least, outside of school. Again, he could remember nothing, so his last thought meant nothing. Chiron started to speak, so Marcus told his brain to shut up.

"The teams of Capture the flags will be Athena paired with Poseidon, Hermes, Ares, and Nike," Chiron said, looking out among the campers. "The other will be Apollo with Hephaestus, Aphrodite, Demeter, Dionysus, Iris, and Hecate."

"Hey, Chiron, what about Marcus?" one of the kids among the Hermes' group called. Marcus really wished they hadn't brought attention to him. Marcus looked up at Chiron, who was staring at him with a critical eye. Mr. D leaned over and whispered something to Chiron; the centaur didn't react so Marcus could only hope that they weren't planning on killing him.

"Well, since it is not usual for someone outside the camp to be here," Chiron said still watching Marcus. "I suggest we let him decide which team." Everyone was now watching him, waiting for his choice. Marcus hated being spotlight, but he looked at the group that would protect the Apollo flag and then at the one that would guard the Athena flag. Despite Apollo being a very large group, not to mention all the other cabins alliance with them, they were still short a couple of people compared to the other team.

"I think I will go with Apollo's group," a cheer went up from the team. He looked over at the Hermes kids, they all had evil grins on their faces.

"What?" Marcus asked, slightly curious and slightly afraid.

"Now we can test you for real," one of the Stolls said.

"Better watch you're back out there Bran," the other one told him. Marcus was suddenly very nervous.

Chiron hammered his hoofs against the marble floor of the pavilion and started to speak again:

"Heroes!" he announced. "You know the rules. The creek is the boundary line. The entire forest is fair game. All magic items are allowed. The banner must be prominently displayed, and have no more than two guards. Prisoners may be disarmed, but may not be bound or gagged. No killing or maiming is allowed. I will serve as referee and battlefield medic. Arm yourselves!"

He spread his arms wide and the tables were suddenly overlaid with all sorts of armor and weapons. Campers started to scramble in order to get the better equipment. Marcus, however, picked up the nearest helmet and tried it on. It was far too heavy. In fact, Marcus could tell from just the test with the helmet that the armor would just hinder him in any fight. Instead of standing in front of the table, he backed up so others were able to get to the table. He got strange stares from this, but he ignored them and no one made an attempt to tell him to armor up.

The team Marcus was on was deemed the Blue team and was placed in the eastern side of the forest. The night was cool and the crickets were chirping. Butch, the large guy he had met in the early morning had told him to stick close and not to wander off alone. Marcus, not having played this game with actual weapons before, decided the best thing was to do as he said. A soon as the conch horn was blown, they took off into the denser part of the forest; Marcus stuck close to Butch's tail.

They crossed the small creek that acted as the border between each side without meeting a single soul. Marcus kept glancing around for the streak of red from the other team. He looked in front of himself every now and then to make sure he could see the blue plumage of Butch's helmet. Marcus wore a blue ribbon around his arm to warn other players which side he was on.

Marcus had brought out his duel swords, which caused Butch to flinch. Probably both from the sound of it and also the glare of the swords, they made them easier to spot. Without words, Marcus signaled to Butch that he would trail farther behind and deeper into the denser trees. Butch gave him a nod in confirmation. This made them harder to spot, or at least, it made Butch harder to spot.

Despite not having ever playing, or remembering playing, Marcus felt his instincts kicking in. He felt like he was built for the heat of battle. Now if he only knew why. He pushed the thought out of his mind as heard a clash of weapons. Looking through a space through the trees, Marcus saw that Butch was fighting off three Athenians with his large battle-axe. Marcus could tell a lost cause when he saw one, brawn didn't always win over brains. Not that Butch wasn't smart, but that wasn't the point. Marcus stocked closer. Just as it seemed that Butch would be taken as a captive, Marcus sprung from his hiding place.

Unfortunately, the Athenians weren't taken by surprise as he would have hoped; his swords gave him away too easily. He brought down both his swords, hard, on one of the Athenians, who managed to quickly block them with his shield. The camper looked at Marcus like he was crazy to be fighting him without armor for a few moments, but wasted little time and struck out. Marcus caught the thrust with his right sword and batted it away.

Marcus was at a disadvantage. Though he was far more agile without his armor, he was far more likely to get hurt. True, Chiron had said no killing or maiming, but accidents tend to happen in such a game. The Athenian was slower, but far better defended. Marcus would have to pay close attention to the other camper's movements.

Butch, with far less burden to take care of, was fighting off the other two campers a lot better than before. He was madly swinging his axe back and forth making it hard to breech his defenses. Marcus was taking this all in at an extremely fast rate.

His foe lunged at him; Marcus sidestepped and slammed the pommel of his right sword into the back of the Athenian. He stumbled, but swung around as Marcus made a move to attack. Their swords clashed between them with the metallic screech of metal. Using all his strength, Marcus pushed the camper away and placed a well-aimed smack on the side of their head with the flat of his blade. Unfortunately, this only caused them to stagger sideways. Before Marcus could attempt another attack, the Athenian arched his sword up and brought it down on Marcus.

Though it was moving extremely fast, Marcus followed the trail of the blade as if he was watching everything in slow motion. When the sword was nearly a foot from his head, Marcus grabbed the sword using both of his blades and twisted himself around, bring his hands over his head. This caused the sword to twist in his opponents hand and the sword went flying. Without letting the Athenian pull out a dagger or something, Marcus smashed the pommel of one of his swords into the side of the campers head. This time they fell like a bag of stones.

Marcus turned to help Butch take care of the other two. He had to duck a couple times to avoid decapitation, but in less than five minutes they managed to knock out the other two. They placed them out in the open so they were in plain view and could be found easily. Butch and Marcus started out again.

They moved not more than twenty feet before they were ambushed by a couple of the Hermes' kids.

"Go," Butch told him hefting his axe. "I'll distract them well you go around. The flag isn't more than hundred yards away." Marcus didn't need to be told twice. He back tracked twenty meters, past the unconscious group of Athenians, and headed into the denser trees once more. He didn't look back to see if any of the kids of Hermes had followed, he figured he would know if they did. But neither did he see or hear anyone. Butch was obviously distracting them well.

The trees thickness prevented him from seeing anything in front of him, not to mention it had gotten darker since the start of the game. Marcus half wished that he had a torch or something similar, but only half wished; it would also be glaringly obvious of his location. So he pushed wishful thinking aside and continued his dark journey through the forest.

He found the clearing with the flag. The grey banner was stuck in the ground between two large campers; Marcus could safely assume these kids were of Ares. One wielded a deadly looking two handed sword; well the other carried a spear. Marcus was crouching not ten meters in front of them, hidden well by the underbrush and trees of the forest. He slowly skittered around them, trying to formulate a plan as he did so. He was hoping that someone else would come and distract them well he shot out of his hiding place and grabbed the flag.

However, after ten minutes of sitting in silence without any indication of an alley coming, Marcus started thinking of the best way to get the flag and avoid getting skewered by a spear. As he sat in the dirt scratching his mind over for an idea, he was sub-consciously aware of chirping birds. No not chirping, cawing. It was close and he looked around, searching for the unfamiliar, yet strangely familiar, sound. He spotted the owners across the clearing.

There were four crows perched on a tree branch hanging about ten feet above the Ares' camper's heads. Both of the campers were watching the birds with fright, they fidgeted non-stop with their weapons. On impulse and instinct, Marcus made his own cawing sound. Surprisingly, it was a very good imitation and neither of the flag's guards took any notice of it, evidently paying to close attention to the crows in front of them. He cawed again, this time one of the birds cocked its head in his direction and cawed.

Marcus and the crows crowed back and forth with each other for a few moments. He wasn't exactly sure what he was doing, but again, he was doing it on instinct. Without warning, the lack feathered birds launched themselves at the Ares' kids. Sheathing one of his blades, Marcus jumped out of his hiding spot and ran to grab the flag. He dodged one of the campers, who stumbled backwards as they tried to swipe at the crows, and took hold of the flag pole. As soon as the flag was removed from the ground, Marcus sprinted back in the direction of the creek.

He passed by several teammates skirmishing with the Red team. A few managed to see him fly by and sent up a cheer, they chased after him in order to defend his back. Though, he didn't have to worry as much about his back as he did his front. The creek came into site, no more than thirty meters away when a figure jumped in front of him and took a swipe at his head with a bronze sword.

Marcus managed to duck in time before the blade smashed into the side of his head, which would probably have left him dead. He turned and spotted who made the attack. It was the Nike kid, Charity. She scowled at him and thrust her sword at his left side. Marcus blocked it with some difficulty, carrying a flag and fighting at the same time was not that easy.

She feinted a swipe of her sword at his head, but reversed its course at his legs. Though, he jumped back with amazing speed, the sword still managed to cut a deep gash into his leg. Pain shot up his side, but he didn't let a small thing like a cut get in his way. Quickly assessing the area, Marcus spotted a tree about five meters from the creek. He defended himself against Charity's sword skills as he slowly made his way to the tree.

He noticed, with slight irritation, that everyone was standing around watching the fight instead of coming to help him. He pushed the thought aside as he moved in front of the tree.

"Give up," Char's breathing was coming in heavy huffs. "You're wounded and there is little chance that you'll even get across the creek."

"I've come this, far haven't I?" Marcus said with a tone of voice more cheerful than he should have been granted. Without giving a second to answer, Marcus spun around and ran at the tree five feet behind him. Using his good leg he pushed off the trunk and sailed over Char's head.

There was good momentum behind it; unfortunately, he had had to use his left leg as his right one had a long sword gash in it. He landed in the middle of the creek with a splash and lost site of the world for a moment. But he was back up on his feet before the Reds could take a step towards him and planted the flag firmly in the ground on the Blue team's side.

A cheer went up and he was suddenly surrounded by quite a few of the campers on the Blue side.

**Author's Note: Okay, down with a fourth chapter. I find I can write chapters with less than 5,000 words a lot easier than I can with that many. So, the only major things that are to be taken and discussed about is the fact that he doesn't use any armor and the crows. I cannot reveal much about either, not that the armor bit matters that much, but it might give you ideas as to where I am going. And the crows I also cannot reveal much about except that they'll become more important later.**


	5. Mistletoe

**Author's Note: It's been awhile since my last post. Though, that might be because this story isn't my top priority. Anyway, I leave you to read. P.S. Strange name for the title, but it'll become evident why at the end of it.**

The roar of cheering overwhelmed his ears to the point where he was half-aware of his surroundings. Marcus's hand still gripped the banner's pole, as well as his sword. Despite the fact that it had just been a game, Marcus couldn't be gladder that it was over. He couldn't imagine why they put each other through this, it almost seemed barbaric. But again, he wasn't one in the position to judge.

"I have to admit, Marcus, that was pretty good," Percy said after managing to push his way into the crowd. He wore a smirk that would have split his face if it could have gone any wider. Marcus shook his head.

"I didn't think I was going to make it," Marcus admitted. "I thought you would have stopped me before I could even reach the creek."

"I was helping Annabeth with a couple of the Hephaestus' children farther up the creek," Percy explained, glancing back at the blonde haired girl that Percy had introduced to him. He turned his attention back to Marcus and looked him over. "Come on, your leg needs to be looked at."

Marcus looked down at his leg. It was wide and bloody, fortunately, it had been a nice, clean cut. Amazingly, though it was probably because of the adrenaline running through his veins, the wound did not hurt. Percy started pulling him through the crowd. Chiron trotted out from where he had been standing farther back.

"I must say, I was very impressed Marcus. Very few do not ignore the warning from the child of Nike," Chiron said as he bent low to look at his leg.

"And why is that?" Marcus asked curiously. He hissed when Chiron lightly touched the wound.

"Sorry about that," Chiron apologized, and then he proceeded to answer Marcus's question. "Because, they often know when victory is in their hands. Come along, we'll tend to this in the infirmary." Chiron crouched down on his four limbs and waited. Marcus wasn't sure what he was supposed to do until Chiron looked at him impatiently.

"Ah… no, that's okay. I can walk," Marcus said feeling panic rising in his chest.

"Don't be silly, you'll only cause more damage than what has already been done," Chiron told him. Marcus glanced at Percy with, what he was sure, the same panic swelling inside.

"You might as well accept the offer. It's not every day that Chiron offers a ride," Percy smirked.

Marcus was feeling conflicted. For one, being around Chiron, or rather, horses made him rather nervous. Thus, he was reluctant to get on his back, especially being near water. On the other hand, it would appear rude, not to mention, he could tell that he was already being closely watched, meaning they would become more suspicious of who he was. Though, to be honest he wasn't sure if there was anything to be suspicious about. Taking a rather large gulp of air, Marcus clambered onto the centaurs back.

Chiron stood up and ordered the rest whose wounds needed to be looked at to follow before he started walking towards the camp. Percy followed close behind Chiron. Chiron didn't attempt to speak to him well he walked, which Marcus was kind of thankful for because he was too busy trying not to think about the fact that he was riding a "horse." Also because he was starting to feel the pain from his wound and was afraid to open his mouth in fear of emptying his stomach.

When Chiron finally strode in front of the large cabin-like building, Marcus slipped off his back and fell on to his feet. Pain shot up his right leg and he fell to the ground, he resisted letting out a yell. Percy hurried forward to help him up.

"Thanks," Marcus said as Percy pulled his arm over his shoulder.

"No problem," he said with a casual smile. "I've had to bare the weight of the sky before, so this isn't bad compared to that." Marcus cocked a curious eyebrow.

"The weight of the sky?" Marcus asked as Percy led him into the infirmary and pushed through the gathering crowd to get to an unoccupied bed, Chiron following close behind.

"Yeah, it was awhile back, we had just started fighting against the Titans and Annabeth went missing. When we found Artemis holding the burden of Atlas, one of the titans, I took it from her in order for her to fight Atlas," Percy explained as Marcus sat down on the bed. Chiron knelt down and started on his leg, first by taking a clean towel dipped in warm water and wiped at the wound. Marcus hissed.

"Again, I'm sorry," Chiron told him. "Percy get the nectar from the—"

"No," Marcus said quickly. Chiron eyed him suspiciously. Thankfully, he didn't question it and Marcus sat in the silence, hissing every once and awhile. It took ten minutes to have the wound cleaned, rubbed with some kind of salve, and wrapped in white bandages. Chiron stood up and looked down on him.

"That is the best I can manage. If you had taken some of the nectar, perhaps… Anyway, what were you thinking by fighting without any armor?" Chiron asked, this time his voice was a little sterner.

Marcus shrugged, "I tried on some of the armor, but it seemed to be heavier than I'm used to. I decided the best course of action was to fight in the way more suited to me."

"Well, I suggest you start wearing armor well fighting. You may not be normal demigod, but you definitely aren't a regular mortal either. The least I can do for you is keep you alive until you can figure out who you are. Wearing armor will be better for your health," Chiron said as he began to turn away. "Now if you'll excuse me, I must attend to some things. Percy, see to it that Marcus stays put until tomorrow morning, at least. And help the others as well."

"Aye, Aye, Chiron," Percy called to the disappearing form of the centaur. He turned back to Marcus. "You should fight with me some time?"

"Sure," Marcus said with a smile. "Why not tomorrow?"

"Because you're hurt," Percy said with a matter-of-fact tone of voice. He stepped past Marcus and struggled through the other campers to the back of the infirmary. "You should at least wait until you heal a bit."

"Fine, what about the day after tomorrow?" Marcus called back, his smile widening slightly.

"A little eager, aren't you?" Percy asked.

"You're the one who asked," Marcus grumbled as Percy came back from the back of the infirmary. In his hands, he carried a bright orange shirt, along with a pair of shorts. He held them out to Marcus.

"Here put these on." Marcus grabbed them; the clothes that he was wearing were in the worst shape. A big rip in his pant leg was not the only casualty they had received. His hoodie had been punctured by branches that he had run into. In some places, the branches had punctured through his sweater and then into his shirt. He looked like he had a run in with a sub-machine gun, minus the wounds. Plus he was drenched, for the third time that day, from his soak in the creek. He slipped off his hoodie and his shirt. Not having removed his hoodie since he had woken up, he was shocked when he looked at his bare arms.

He was surprised to find that he had tattoos. He had three circlets of Celtic knots on each arm. The first ones rested right above his wrists, the second set were just below the elbows, and the third and final pair circled his upper arm. Marcus inspected each of them, the patterns were identical.

"Whoa!" Percy exclaimed on seeing the circlets. "Nice ink."

"I can't believe I didn't notice before," Marcus murmured more to himself rather than Percy. A mirror hung on the wall just meters from where he sat Marcus stood up and inspected his reflection. He looked a lot different without anything on the top half of his body. He had prominent muscles, though not overdone. His tattoos added to his devilish outlook.

"Hey, you got another one on your back," he heard Percy's voice from behind. "It looks like a bird." A flag went up in Marcus's mind.

"Like a crow?" Marcus asked.

"Yeah," though Percy's voice held a hint of uncertainty, but it wasn't uncertainty of the shape. Marcus pulled on the orange t-shirt Percy had given him.

"What's wrong with crows?"

"It's not just crows, ravens too, though I suppose they are of the same family. Their sort of bad omens in Greek mythology. They usually are a sign of death. Not to mention, both are sacred to Apollo and sense Apollo is the god of prophecy, they could be a warning of sorts. So you can see were I'm going with this," Percy explained.

"I guess," Marcus said. Though, he wasn't going to say out right that he had felt safer with them around him. "I never really gave it any thought."

"I have an example. You see those two down there?" Marcus looked to were Percy's finger pointed. Farther back in the crowded infirmary, Marcus could make out the two children of Ares that had been attacked by the crows. Marcus smirked. "They were attacked by crows. Nothing good ever comes from those black feathered birds." They didn't talk for a time afterwards for Percy had to help clean up some of the campers who had gotten injured during their game.

"So, do people usually stay in the infirmary over night?" he asked Percy who was tending to a fourteen year old in the bed next to him, he looked as if he had gotten his face on the wrong side of a shield.

"Nah, you come in, get cleaned up, and are sent on your way. But there are times when a person needs to be looked after for a couple days. Or, in your case, where we have no clue about the person and feel it safe if that person spent their nights here," Percy said as he wiped away a lot of blood from the fourteen year-old's nose.

"Thanks, I feel so welcome," Marcus exclaimed sarcastically. Percy just grinned.

"That wasn't the original intention; you would have slept in the Hermes' cabin. But I think Chiron found your injury a compelling way to keep you here for the night, if not a couple days."

"I can't complain. No offense against the children of Hermes, but I doubt I would have gotten a wink of sleep," Marcus said this jokingly. Percy moved away to help out with some more of the casualties, living Marcus to his own devices, which was sitting and thinking to himself. Soon though, everyone, except for a few of the more injured campers, left and he tried to get some rest. However, sleep eluded him.

He wasn't tired, or at least his mind wasn't. As long as his mind cooperated, he would have gladly fallen into a deep, dreamless sleep. Unfortunately, his conscious wanted to think. It thought about everything, his loss of memories, his strange fear of horses, his swords, even the names of creatures that he wouldn't have thought he'd known. Most importantly, the little stunt he pulled with the crows during the game of Capture the Flag.

He had tried pulling it apart in his mind, filling in the gaps with possible outcomes, but none of them seemed to work. Being raised by crows, somehow he couldn't imagine sitting in a nest and eating insects or even small animals at times as an infant. Maybe his parents were bird freaks, but he couldn't really imagine that either. Yet, somehow, he had managed to talk to them. Or maybe he had imagined that, maybe he had thought they had been responding to his cawing. His continuous thinking was starting to mess with his head.

He sighed as he sat up in the bed. Trying to fall asleep with his restless mind was useless. He left the bed and limped to the infirmary door, not caring that he left it open on his way out. He could hear the lapping of water from the not too far off distant beach, but he had no desire to be near water. Though, that didn't mean he didn't like water, he actually had a fondness for it, but something else was pulling at his conscious. The rustle of leaves upon leaves soon reached his ears as he approached the forest he had been in mere hours before.

It was deathly silent, but it didn't bother him, in fact, the walk to the woods had calmed his mind somewhat. He continued his walk deeper into the forest not caring what anyone might think if they had seen him go in. Soon, however, his leg hindered his movements and he sat down on a large rock to rest. His hand slipped and was cut on the ridged edge of the stone.

"Dammit," Marcus hissed as the cut stung. A sudden fluttering of wings caught his attention. His head sung upwards to see a crow sitting on a branch a few meters away from him. Its beady little eyes turned to him. He didn't know how he knew, but it was one of the crows from before. He didn't move, he just sat and watched it watching him. It cawed once, breaking the silence of the forest.

On the impulse to answer, Marcus crowed back. _Hello little fella_, he thought at the same time as if to send the message through his imitation.

The black bird crowed angrily as if to say: _Don't talk to me impudently_.

_Well, I can't exactly call you big can I_, Marcus crowed his thoughts once more. The bird cawed loudly.

"Great, I'm having a conversation with a bird," Marcus spoke aloud to himself. Without another sound the bird took off and as it flew away, its black feathers blended in with the opaqueness of the forest. Marcus sighed; he was alone in this strange world again. But no more than a few seconds after thinking that, the crow was sitting in front of him once more. This time, it held something in its beak.

It hopped forward until it sat in front of his feet, where it dropped the contents of its beak. Marcus bent down and fumbled through the foliage on the ground. Soon his hands touched something that was different from the leaves and sticks he was sifting through. His hand grasped the foreign object and lifted t to eye level. It was instantly recognizable from the holiday it was always associated with. The clipping bore one smooth-edged oval evergreen leaf and a cluster of five berries, it was mistletoe.

Though, this was European mistletoe. How he knew this, he had no clue, nor did he know why he needed to know this. However, it must have been important if the crow had brought it to him. Marcus looked at the crow quizzically, as though he was searching for an answer, which may have seemed strange to any normal person, but he wasn't exactly living in a normal person's world.

"Uh, what am I supposed to do with it?" he asked out loud, still watching the crow for any indication of the mistletoe's purpose. The black feathered bird only watched him with its beetle-black eyes. "If you want me to eat them, you've got to be insane." _Or maybe I'm insane_, Marcus thought to himself. Sighing he slipped the mistletoe into the pockets of his shorts. He would keep it until he figured out what the crow wanted him to do with it.

He didn't have a clue why, but he felt like the crow was the only one he could truly trust… for now.

**Author's Note: So, yeah nothing really big happens in this chapter. Just a little bit of chatting of this and that. However, the mistletoe thing will become more important within the next few chapters.**


End file.
